Fires of Dust
by Zinra
Summary: The life of Hunters has never been said to be kind. That fact is never clearer than the lose of another hunter. When Teams RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL are slotted to join each other on their first year joint mission none of them expect the bonds they will make during their second semester. None of them expect how cruelly those bonds could be lost or the change that lose can make.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Jaune Arc gripped the small square box handed to him by the bronze haired warrior to his left and dipped his fingers into it rolling his fingers in the powdered Dust. The last few Dust shards and rounds that weren't used in yesterdays battle were ground down for the ceremony. He took a pinch between his fingers and threw it into the funeral pyre in front of the three boys. It flared again in response to the dust projecting a myriad of colors and a fresh wave of heat. It would have been unbearable if not for his aura. Still starring into the flame's shifting colors that were once a fellow Hunter in training and more recently, more importantly, his good friend he held the box up to the short tempered leader on his right.

Unlike the two shorter boys next to him, faces held as stone against their grief, Cardin's tears flowed freely as he dipped his fingers into the box and threw his bit of Dust onto the flames creating another wave of heat and burst of shifting colors. As his best friend Dove Bronzewing had been given the duty of first sending, as his unofficial student Jaune was given second, and Cardin Winchester was given third as his team leader. The three boys moved away from the flames after preforming the first three sendings, a rite normally kept for family. Russel Thresh was the first from the rest of the three teams to preform his sending followed closely by Nora Valkyrie and Ruby Rose. Like Cardin and Russel they cried openly and unyieldingly venting their grief for a boy they barley knew. Jaune was jealous that they could. His tears just wouldn't come despite sting of tears in his eyes, the squeezing in his chest, or the pit in his gut. Despite the guilt he felt.

Weiss Schneed decided to hold the box for the two girls to perform their sendings. Their hands shaking too much to hold the small thing containing their only Dust for the ceremony until everyone had had their chance. Lie Ren performed his sending quickly, shepherding a still crying Nora away from the flames and onto a nearby bench, her sobs as loud and sincere as her normal personality. Weiss was struck by the difference in the two. Compared to Nora, Ruby's tears were quiet and strained but just as sincere. Weiss gripped her hand tightly and pulled her towards the bench with the two members of team JNPR handing the box off the their last team mate on the way.

Pyrrha Nikos's eyes had never left the blonde knights expressionless face. The three remaining members of team CRDL and Jaune stood together in a tight group hug supporting each other in the way she had only ever seen the men she had known growing up to do at times of reunion after long years or at times of remorse. Times like this. Despite his blank look she could see the pain there. She could tell he hadn't slept since before the day of that awful tragedy of a battle. She gripped the box tightly in both hands as she approached the funeral pyre with the two remaining girls from team RWBY. She decided as she threw a pinch of dust onto the pyre she would talk to him about everything after this. Blake Belladonna and Yang Xiao Long were the last two to perform their sending. Pyrrha turned to head towards the group of boys and her knight. Unlike Pyrrha, Yang hadn't hesitated a full two strides ahead of her before Blake shot a hand out to stop her. She held Yang's shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

"Give him some space for now. This is a time to be with family." Blake spoke to her. Yang's eyes meet Dove's blue eyes for a long second but he turned back to Russel saying something she couldn't hear over the fires crackling and shook him with the arm around his shoulders. She understood that look in his eyes. There would be time later right now family came first.

As if on cue to prove Blake right another loud sob rang out across the field and surly through out the small town. Without a word Yang turned on her heels long blonde hair cascading behind her and purple eyes stained with her first tears. She swept up the two crying girls into a fierce hug. Weiss wrapped her arm around them as well never letting go of Ruby's hand even still.

"Come on you too." Pyrrha felt a hand tug on her own and saw Blake with a sad smile on her face, "He's got the boys to support him right now but he'll need you once his mask cracks. Trust me."

"Alright then." Pyrrha said meekly letting the raven haired girl pull her towards the others.

For the first time Pyrrha actually noticed all the townsfolk surrounding the funeral proceedings many of them shedding tears of their own for a hero they had never known and even possibly never seen. She felt her eyes sting and the cool tears trail down her cheeks. Even after all they had fought, all the injuries each of them had collected, all the people they were able to save they lost so many and they had lost one of their own. Giving his own life to save more of the townsfolk around them now and Jaune was blaming himself she saw it in his eyes even if his face showed nothing. It was..it was so unfair and so much like him. The tears wouldn't stop now. Ren pulled her into the rest of the group with a hug.

She had never known Sky Lark that well but even she knew he wouldn't have been happy with any of them blaming themselves for his choice. A coward by nature he still put himself on the line when it had mattered knowing what would happen. He would have hated to see any of them blaming themselves.

Sky Lark had given his life to protect them and the people around his funeral pyre inside this nearly ruined town near the edge of Vytal.


	2. Second Semester

Second Semester

The first week of classes hadn't even ended and Jaune was all too ready to quit. Not even a whole week since their break between semesters and already their in-class combat training had nearly doubled leaving less time for the rest of their lessons. Despite this their other classes workloads had increased and on top of everything today started their extra class. The one Jaune was stuck in now trying not to scratch at his recently acquired wounds from Forever Fall. The class was comprised of only team leaders regardless of what year they were in. Despite the class being a complete surprise to both him and Ruby the upperclassman took their seats with familiarity.

Professor Port stood at the head of the classroom lecturing about the basics the class would cover. Unlike his normal lectures he hadn't deviated at all to any tales of his youth instead focused purely on what they could expect to take away from their new class. According to the professor the class wouldn't be graded in and of itself but the importance of the material they would cover made it mandatory and they were expected to participate. Jaune however was pouring over his notes from Professor Oobleck's class attempting to complete his report before the class ended. For Jaune it was always easier to focus on his work during class than anywhere outside of it and with their new schedule any time he saved by finishing his work in class was more he could use in other ways. It was so much easier for him to focus in fact that he hadn't even noticed the professor until he was standing right next to him.

"Ahem, Mr. Arc, while I'm sure Professor Oobleck would be proud of your dedication to his material and even though today was only an overview of this class as a whole the future material we will cover here will be of dire imperative. Make no mistake my boy." Professor Port towered over Jaune's seat and he saw a surprising lack of amusement that was normally on the professor's face. He felt his own face pale as he looked up at the man. "Now that I've gotten your attention Mr. Arc, Professor Peach requires your presence in the infirmary immediately after class. Don't dally on your way."

Sitting next to Jaune, Ruby tried to hold in her laugh at his expense and only managed to stifle it just under the professor's hearing, mouthing a quick 'Sorry' as the professor headed back towards the front of the classroom. Jaune made a face at the red head and tried to ignore the pit in his stomach. Professor Peach must have known about Jaune's injury even though he hadn't seen the professor in days. To say the professor was displeased the first time Jaune had hidden an injury from him would be a huge understatement and he was far from kind about the matter that time. Jaune's stomach dropped at the thought.

"Well then seeing as it is about time to wrap up our class we shall move onto the last matter at hand, the second semester joint mission." Professor Port announced to the class and the air in the room shifted.

Even Jaune was able to feel the subtle change in the room. There were no more hushed conversations, no more scratching of notes, and most noticeable of all the upperclassman were completely focused on the professor. Until now the upperclassman had almost completely ignored the first years or anything to do with them going as far that some of the upperclassmen pretended like they didn't even exist.

"Now you upperclassman know all about your joint missions. Some of you first years may not." Professor Port leaned back against his large desk with his arms crossed and a serious expression behind his bushy gray mustache. "Unlike the regular missions your teams have been on up to this point, joint missions will have your team and another other team embark on a true Hunter's task. Your first year joint mission will be of great import. This particular mission, should you graduate your first year, will heavily influence your course selection in the years to come. You will have no other support on these joint missions beyond your teammates and your own resources making these tasks often dangerous and will require each of you to act as the true Hunters you will one day become."

Professor Port stopped speaking taking a long moment to look at each of the first years in turn making sure they were taking in his words. Without saying anything else to the students the professor reached behind him and pushed a few buttons on his scroll laying on the desk. The blackboards all along the front of the classroom flickered and the descriptions of the Grimm from earlier classes disappeared leaving behind pairings of pictures of all the first year team leaders. The classroom seemed to explode in chatter after the long silence. The upperclassman immediately chatting about the teams, placing bets about which teams would fail and discussing which teams complimented each other.

"These will be the pairings for the first years' joint missions. As you can see there are an odd number of teams this year so teams CRDL, JNPR, and RWBY will be working together in a three team squad. And before anyone asks, no you can not change the team you are paired with. You wont get that privilege until your third year." The professor stated flatly as multiple hands shot into the air, Ruby's included.

How could his luck be this bad? Jaune could only stare at the blackboard as Professor Port listed off the teams until he changed the images over to the second year pairings, snapping Jaune out of his daze. Jaune shifted his look to the two team leaders he would have to work with. Ruby sat next to him cheeks puffed out glaring daggers across the room at Cardin Winchester the leader of team CRDL. Cardin glared back at the small red head, his arms crossed against his large frame. When he noticed Jaune looking his way he stared back with an almost thoughtful expression Jaune couldn't quite figure out before quickly going back to glare at Ruby. Working with team RWBY would have been fine, both teams got along well. Working with team CRDL wouldn't even have been the worst thing Jaune had ever dealt with but working with both of them was going to be...exhausting. Jaune let out a long sigh and scratched at the cuts under his school uniform.

"It seems we are done for the day class but I will leave you with this advice. You will have a few months before your joint missions take place so I would suggest you not waste it, especially if you wish to be chosen to partake in the Vytal Festival. Your missions will conclude with scant time to spare before the Festival so that you may forget your sorrows or hopefully celebrate your victories with the rest of the school." The professor left off with his signature cheer of a ha ha and dismissed the class.

Jaune gathered his belongings standing to make his way to the infirmary and ungracefully fell back into his chair in an attempt not to ram face first into the tall orange haired boy now standing directly over him as the professor had not long before.

"Hey Jauney-boy looks like we'll be stuck together again." Cardin smirked as he smacked a large hand on Jaune's shoulder taking satisfaction from his over reaction. "Relax Jauney-boy, I just came over to set up a little bit of training for tonight. I'd never hear the end of it from Lark if I didn't and that goes for you too shorty."

"Hey! My height's completely normal for my age!" Ruby jumped out of her seat and all but yelled at Cardin as he walked away.

"Yeah and you're still shorter than everyone else. Look just have your teams meet us in the gardens in a couple hours." Cardin said over his shoulder not bothering to stop walking away. Ruby deflated as the taller team leader left the classroom in the throng of other students and collapsed back into her chair to gather her own belongings muttering something about drinking more milk.

"I gotta run to the infirmary. My team didn't have plans for this weekend anyway so I'll meet you guys at the garden's I guess." Jaune said standing back up for the second time and grabbed his things.

"Hey, Jaune are you ok? I mean you're going to the infirmary and Professor Peach asked for you himself so you're not hurt or anything right? That and you haven't been fighting like you normally would so I just thought, ya know, maybe you were hurt or somthing. If you were you'd tell us right?" Ruby asked in one long breath looking up at him making exaggerated hand gestures the whole time.

"I'm fine the professor has been having me run errands for him since I was one of the few students who stayed at Beacon over our break." He put on his best, fake, confident smile. It wasn't entirely a lie. He had been running errands for Professor Peach but he had been the one to ask the professor in order to gain access Forever Fall without anyone asking why he was there. "Besides I can't afford to get hurt. If I did I'd be bringing down the team. As team leader I can't hold them back, right? I gotta get going or the professor's gonna be mad."

Jaune almost ran out of the room partly to reach the infirmary before Professor Peach got annoyed with him but mostly to keep from having to lie to one of his friends. It had been easy to brush the topic off or avoid to so far but it was completely different to lie to one of them straight out. As he walked to the infirmary Jaune sent a message to his team from his scroll telling them about the team selection for the joint mission and the impromptu training in the gardens. Jaune's thoughts wondered as he walked the nearly empty halls on this side of beacon and wondered if team CRDL were planning something with the hasty meeting. He hoped they weren't back to their old tricks. They had mostly stayed away from his team after the incident in Forever Fall with the Ursa Major, only offering their snide remarks given the chance but otherwise staying clear of him and his team, even if he was alone.

Jaune found himself standing outside the door to the infirmary before he realized it. For a long moment he stared at the door trying to calm the beating in his chest and hoped for the best as he finally opened the door. Jaune walked into the now familiar infirmary and immediately noticed an unfamiliar girl sitting on the first bed of the infirmary. What caught his eye the most was the large cut across her back that her short purple hair and open backed dress left in plain view. If Jaune had to guess he would place her around the same age as him. The sound of the door closing behind him caught the girl's attention and she turned towards him offering a wide grin and a small wave apparently unconcerned about the angry wound on her back.

"Peaches, I think you have another visitor." The girl called to the professor, who quickly entered from the adjoined room. A wicked grin spread across his face as he saw Jaune and barely through the mess of pink hair Jaune could see the twinkle in the professor's eyes. This was going to be bad. The professor strode over to Jaune, throwing an arm over the shorter boy's shoulder's and pulling him towards the first set of beds.

"Oh, come in Jaune. Come in. Come in. I have someone I want you to meet. Jaune this is my ever annoying and disturbingly childlike teammate Lillath who all too often forgets my real name. Lillath this is my favorite student, Jaune Arc!" The professor's voice was dripping with false sweetness and ended his statement with an all too firm slap on Jaune's stomach. Right over his wounds. Jaune sucked in air between his teeth from the pain and the professor continued as if nothing was out of the ordinary. "Jaune has been so kind to volunteer whenever I need someone to run into the forest." Another slap to the stomach and again the professor ignored his reaction. "He was even asking to learn basic first aid from me over break." Another slap to the stomach. This time Jaune let out a gasp and the professor's eyes narrowed at him.

"Professor, I kinda... um..." Jaune started gritting his teeth and the professor tilted his head curiously at the boy. "I've got a few cuts on my stomach a few days back so could you, maybe not do that."

"And how did you get these 'cuts'? I'm sure my favorite student wouldn't possibly be stupid enough to go into the forest on his own unprepared. Most certainly he wouldn't have been such and imbecile to forget the things his kind professor gave him to keep his moronic impulses from killing himself." The professor's tone was flat now the false sweetness now gone for his normal neutral tone of voice. He leaned closer to Jaune and tightened his grip around the younger boy's shoulders.

"Has anyone ever told you you're verbally abusive?" Jaune asked him trying to avoid the question and found avoiding the professor's eyes now exceptionally difficult as he was only a few inches from Jaune's face.

"I know right! I tell him that all the time but he's still so mean!" Lillath said excitedly kicking her feet into the air and lifting herself above the bed with her hands. She stuck her tongue out at the professor's glare quickly defusing the situation between the two males in the room.

"Sit down and take your shirt off then. I'll sow you up." Professor Peach gave Jaune a shove towards bed in front of Lillath and Jaune did as he was told. The professor studied the mess of scratches and deeper cuts running across his stomach. "Now how did this happen?"

"Would you believe I fell down the stairs?" Jaune asked tentatively knowing the only thing he could think of wouldn't convince the professor. Lillath let out a laugh at his comment.

"Keep it up and I'll throw you down the stairs. Both of you. Now tell me what happened."

Jaune seemed reluctant to answer at first but finally told the professor, "Boarbatusks. There were four of them in the forest and the pheromones you gave me to daze the grimm didn't work on them at all." The professor began sowing the deepest of the cuts as Jaune spoke.

"Four of them? We usually don't get many of those in Forever Fall. Honestly I'm surprised you're not dead." Peach said matter-of-factly never looking away from his work. "How did you get away?"

"I'm not really sure. I took one of them down on it's first charge but another one got me with its spiney charge thing. I got lucky and killed a second one, I'm not really sure how it's kind of a blur, and then the rest just kinda ran away."

"Well I'd say you're lucky you're armor stopped the one from shredding your chest." The professor finished his work and pulled a chair over towards the beds as Jaune got redressed. Professor Peach sat in the chair backwards and started spinning the swiveled chair as he spoke. "How did the technique I taught to you work?"

"There's no way I could get something like that to work. I can barely even manage to control my aura."

"I didn't ask 'if' it worked I asked 'how' it worked." The professor's spinning came to a sudden stop as he looked intently at Jaune waiting for his answer.

"It...it felt like my muscles were warming up, there was a tingle, and then the pain doubled and I lost it. I told you there's no way I can do something like that." Jaune broke the professor's eye contact and stared intently at the floor.

"Well I guess that's why you're the student and not the professor then." The professor stated seeming suddenly bored of the conversation as he stood up. "In any case you had better run along and go get prepared. You're paired with an excitable couple of teams for your joint mission and you had better get started training."

Jaune's attention snapped back to the tall professor now standing with a wide grin on his face and began ushering Jaune out the door. "You could have at least told me if you knew!"

"And where is the fun in that, Jaune?" Professor Peach abruptly pushed Jaune out of the room before he could respond. Jaune just looked back through the door dumbly as Lillath sat on the bed waving goodbye and as the door closed Professor Peach simply said, "Good luck leading your new squad."

The professor stayed at the door for a long moment waiting in case Jaune decided to try and come back into the infirmary and argue.

"You've been unusually quiet for a while, Lillath. What do you think of the young Arc?"

"What the hell are you thinking Peaches?" His young looking teammate's tone was suddenly harsh and the smile gone without a trace. "Teaching him something like that. He could seriously kill himself."

"I've seen his aura and I doubt he'll have a problem using it. Besides you heard how it's working for him so far. I'd say all's going well." Peach turned towards his teammate with a smile and he walked to peer out the window set into the wall of the infirmary running a hand through his messy pink hair. Lillath let out a sigh giving up ground on the matter. She had learned over the years that Peach had a fondness for games with people and wouldn't yield on them without extreme effort.

"Besides that, Ozpin specifically told us to stay away from the boy as much as possible and..." Peach cut his teammate off before she could continue.

"And I hate the man." He stated bluntly turning back to her. "I hate him but I wouldn't say he's an idiot. He knows I hate him so why would he tell me 'specifically' to stay away from one particular student whom I had no contact with before this."

Peach turned back to the window with a small smile on his face again. Curiosity had always been his particular downfall and the games he got to play with Ozpin were always the best despite usually not knowing what his aim was resulting in Peach usually ending up on the losing end. It still never failed to excite him, seeing who would end up playing the other.

"So that makes you think he said that so you'd ignore him and do the exact opposite."

"I wouldn't say the exact opposite. The boy was the one that came to find me. I just happened to have exactly what he was looking for. Honestly I don't know why he set these things in motion but I don't think I'm the only one who sees the potential in that young man."

Peach paused thinking on the events leading up to his first meeting with Jaune. Ozpin had an interest in the boy, obviously, but that was about the only obvious thing about it. Peach had looked into the boy before meeting him found his transcripts odd, discovering his abysmal combat rating, the extra training he did with his much better partner, and finally finding the boy staying at Beacon over the two week break between semesters without a training partner, training grounds, or any instructors on campus with time to spare to help students over their break. Most importantly this left Peach in the perfect place to provide these things all with a simple scroll's permission to head into Forever Fall unescorted and unquestioned.

Again Peach found himself excited to see the possibilities that were in store, "For now I think I'll play that man's game and see where these things go."


End file.
